This is Maine. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life.  The shore that this picture was taken on, is made up of smooth stones and snails. I’m willing to say MILLIONS of snails.

This was the final destination of a one month long journey I took with Wayne.  Even though we only went about 600 miles from home, this was like another universe to us.

It seems as though Maine beaches are the hot spot for Canadians to go.  The one beach we went to had 80% canadians visiting. It was pretty cool. I also won the ski ball tournament. Who would have thought…

Anyway, from the beginning of our road trip, we packed our car full of camping gear and hit the road at about 4pm. Kind of late to start driving, I know, but it worked to our advantage. We stopped at a national park in PA where Wayne had previously been camping and we set up camp, in the dark. We are now professionals at setting up camp in the dark.  On that first night we heard a neighboring camper snoring and I was convinced it was a bear…until I realized that it wasn’t moving. That was some serious snoring.  We only stayed at this National park for one night, packed up, took showers, and left before noon the next day.  We decided to set the GPS to avoid tolls, so we took the scenic route our entire journey.  As we drove that day, Wayne realized that he was at yet another camp ground that he recognized.  We talked about it and decided to spend the weekend at this place. It was called Lake Wallenpalpack.  (I probably spelled that wrong)  They had fishing, canoeing, swimming, hiking, everything….what a cool place this was. We had beautiful weather to do all of these activities too.   Our fun was short lived, the weekend left as quickly as it started and before we knew it, we were on the road again…

After leaving the lake, we headed up to New York. I had never been to upstate New York before, and neither had Wayne.  It is amazing.  When I think of New York, I think of the city.  The rest of the state is nothing like that. They have coyotes, and porcupines, bears…all of that stuff.  They had a weird fire wood rule though, which we only came across north of Pennsylvania.  A parentally, people who carry fire wood across state lines unknowingly carry bugs that harm the forests. If caught, you can be fined heavily for this.  Who knew… We stayed at another state park in New York called Devil’s Tombstone.   We were the only campers on top of a mountain with no civilization around for miles and miles. It was so black outside.  We heard the Coyotes barking all night. It was also our first cold night.  I guess because we were more highly elevated compared to the previous nights.  We again, set up in the dark, and left before noon the next day.  We hiked one of the coolest hikes of the journey in New York.  The hike was a trail, and where the end of the trail is marked, the real hike begins…people die hiking farther, or something, but we just kept going.  At the top of a waterfall there was a pool and another waterfall. Wayne went swimming, it was too cold for me.  We hike to the top of the second waterfall and we could see forever! The hard part was coming down.   Once we made it down, we left New York and headed farther North.  That night, we made it to Mount Ascutney Vermont. THIS was my personal favorite part of the experience. I’ll have to continue when I have more time:)

My heart pains for her.

This will take some time…

Goodbye Ratty Roo, you will be sorely missed.

Oh, did I mention I love school?

Dogs look up to you.

And rats see you as an equal.

My two pet rats are the best kind of pets, and I will tell you exactly why. 

They love you when you want them to.  They feel when you are sad.  The same way dogs do.   They play when you are happy.  They beg for your food, but they can only have a nibble because they only weight .5lbs.  They can’t eat your dinner like a dog would. They don’t jump on you when you come home. They don’t destroy your house.  They don’t smell (regardless of what you morons think). They are inexpensive to keep. They are only a 3 year commitment. Most places allow caged animals.  They are easy to care for.  Especially if they are kept in twos. You can give them as much time or as little time as you can and they will still love you, and each other.  If you pay attention to them, they don’t bite.  They lick you.  They are fun to play with.  They are perfect if you like to be awake at night. They do too!!  You don’t have to walk them. You don’t need a litter box. They don’t destroy your furniture or rugs or walls or doors…If they know you well, they will not pee on you. They are smart like that.  They are sooo cute.  They are funny. They laugh. They like their bellies rubbed too. They have different breeds just like cats and dogs.  They are smarter than dogs and more friendly than cats.  They chase their tails. If you need something shredded, give it to them. They would love to shred it for you.  You can hide things in their cage from people. Most ordinary people would not stick their hand in a rat cage.  You can take them places without anyone knowing you have them.  They love to cuddle. They are just better than you<3

I think that is a beautiful thing, I really do, but I wish those same people could come together for something that would really be life altering.  Those same people coming together with that same passion for stopping global warming, or feeding all the hungry, or finding a cure to AIDS. SOMETHING that is going to alter the course of history. 

I know they have that passion and drive. I saw it all around me when the Phillies won the world series. I see it now that they Eagles may be going to the Superbowl…  I just wish these same people would use it for something else too:( They have no idea what they are capable of.

I recently went to visit my parents for the holidays and I saw a few people I went to High school with.  Nearly every boy I saw when visiting now has a double chin and a tire around their waste. Now, I only graduated high school 3 years ago. So what happened in between? These “men” were thin in high school.  I blame it on poor eating habits. 

Now everyone knows what they should and shouldn’t be eating, but most of us eat garbage anyway.  Is it because it is readily available? Is it because they don’t care?  Maybe it has to do with portion size. I don’t really know. All I see are the results. 

Now, I have always had a fluctuation in my weight. Not too badly, but within 20 or so pounds.  About eight months ago I decided that I wanted to be a vegetarian. At first I was eating all my veggies and no meat, but then I found myself being hungry ALL THE TIME. So I started to eat pasta, and breads, and pizza, and other various forms of crap.  I started to gain weight.  I didn’t understand why. I was still eating my vegetables, but because of the other foods I ate I wasn’t any healthier than a meat eater. 

Now, I understand what I have to do to be healthy.  I have almost completely cut out pasta  from my diet ( by diet I mean what I eat, not that I’m trying to lose weight), I have replaced the bread I eat with high fiber 100% awesome good for you bread. No more white bread for me.  I found that if I eat nuts or beans with every meal I stay full for a long period of time.  I only add sugar to my coffee and I have cut back to maybe a half-cup a day.  I have replaced regular cheese with veggie slices and no more mayo for me.  My grilled cheese is probably the most healthy you can find.  I drink various 100% fruit juices like naked and the v8 v-fusion.  (love that stuff).  Now, back to when I went to visit my parents. Everyone I saw, and their parents, if I saw them too, commented on how thin I looked. This is just from what I eat and don’t eat. I don’t work out at all, I just don’t eat crap any longer.  I weighed myself for the first time in over a year, and to my surprise, I was 119.  That’s perfect for me.  I haven’t been 119 since 8th or 9th grade. 

What’s the moral of the story? Eat stuff that your body needs to perform its best!!! It will give you what you want in return!!!

  Useful! ——>http://www.oprah.com/topics/health

Here is a great link to learn more:     http://www.traveloregon.com/

And another:   http://www.history.com/states.do?action=state&state=OR

Also, video games are a waste of your money.  What is a PSP? It’s a mini dvd player and portable hand held game player, but instead of using regular DVDs, sony had to make their own disks. Instead of buying the movie once for your house hold, you buy it twice. Once for the house, a second time for the PSP.  What is wrong here…Again, it’s a baby sitter. For car rides this time.  

Portable game players are the worst invention of all time.  It is a way for children to avoid interaction.  I have met kids for the very first time while they were walking around holding this thing to their face trying to carry on a conversation with whomever is around them. Hey kids, you don’t look cool and you make your parents look irresponsible.  

Go here and read about sony’s bullshit.

       http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=sony_bullshit